Meta proposes $725 million settlement in Cambridge Analytica data leak case

Facebook parent Meta platforms on Friday agreed to pay $725 million to resolve a class-action lawsuit that accused the tech giant of allowing third parties, including Cambridge Analytica, to access users' personal information.

In a court filing, Meta's proposed settlement would resolve a long-running lawsuit prompted by revelations in 2018 that Facebook had allowed the British political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica to access the data of as many as 87 million users.

This $725 million settlement is deemed to be the largest to ever be achieved in a US data privacy class action and the most that Meta has ever paid to resolve a class action lawsuit.

"This historic settlement will provide meaningful relief to the class in this complex and novel privacy case," the lead lawyers for the plaintiffs, Derek Loeser and Lesley Weaver, said in a joint statement.

The settlement however does not mean Meta has admitted to any wrongdoing, which is subject to the approval of a federal judge in San Francisco. The company said in a statement settling was "in the best interest of our community and shareholders."

"Over the last three years we revamped our approach to privacy and implemented a comprehensive privacy program," Meta said.

Cambridge Analytica allegedly helped former US President Donald Trump during his presidential campaign in 2016. The agency gained access to personal information from millions of Facebook accounts for the purposes of voter profiling and targeting.

The UK-based data agency shut shop in 2018 shortly after it was caught in the eye of the storm that led to these lawsuits. It had filed applications to commence insolvency proceedings in the UK in the same year.

"The company is immediately ceasing all operations and the boards have applied to appoint insolvency practitioners Crowe Clark Whitehill LLP to act as the independent administrator for Cambridge Analytica," it had then said in a statement.

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